Bible verses about "entitlement" | Williams

¹⁶ "Listen! I am sending you out as sheep surrounded by wolves. So you must be sensible like serpents and guileless like doves.

⁷ When He noticed how the guests were picking out the best places, He told them the following story: ⁸ "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding supper, never take the best place, for someone of greater distinction than you may have been invited, ⁹ so that your host may not come and say to you, 'Make room for this man'; and then in embarrassment you will proceed to take and keep the lowest place. ¹⁰ But when you are invited anywhere, go and take the lowest place, so that when your host comes in, he may say to you, 'My friend, come up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow-guests. ¹¹ For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

¹ Then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples: ² "The scribes and Pharisees have taken Moses' seat as teachers. ³ So everything they tell you, do and practice, but stop doing what they do, for they preach but do not practice. ⁴ They tie up heavy burdens and fasten them on men's shoulders, but they refuse to lift a finger to help bear them. ⁵ They do what they do to attract people's attention. They wear on their coats Scripture texts in big letters, and they wear large tassels, ⁶ and they like the places of honor at feasts and the front seats in synagogues, ⁷ to be greeted with honor in public places, and to have men call them 'Teacher.' ⁸ But as for you, you must not seek for others to call you 'Teacher,' for you have but one who is 'Teacher,' and you are all brothers. ⁹ And you must not call anyone on earth 'father,' for the Heavenly One is your Father. ¹⁰ And you must not be called 'leaders,' for you have only one Leader, and that is Christ. ¹¹ Whoever is greatest among you must be your servant. ¹² Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. ¹³ "A curse on you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees! For you bolt the doors of the kingdom of heaven in men's faces, for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you let those who are trying to do so go in. ¹⁴ Omitted Text. ¹⁵ A curse on you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees! For you scour land and sea to win a single convert, and when he is won you make him twice as fit for the pit as you are. ¹⁶ A curse on you, you blind leaders who say, 'Whoever swears by the sanctuary is not duty-bound, but whoever swears by the gold of the sanctuary is duty-bound.' ¹⁷ You blind fools! which is greater, the gold, or the sanctuary that makes the gold sacred? ¹⁸ You say, 'Whoever swears by the altar is not duty-bound, but whoever swears by the offering on the altar is duty-bound!' ¹⁹ You blind men! which is greater, the offering, or the altar that makes the offering sacred? ²⁰ So whoever swears by the altar swears by everything on it; ²¹ whoever swears by the sanctuary swears by it and by Him who dwells in it; ²² whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it. ²³ "A curse on you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees! For you pay tithes on mint and dill and cummin, and yet leave out the more vital matters of the law, justice, love and fidelity. These latter especially you ought to have done, but ought not to have left out the former. ²⁴ You blind leaders, who are straining out the gnat but gulping down the camel! ²⁵ A curse on you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, for you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of your greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ You blind Pharisees! You must first clean the inside of the cup and the dish, so that the outside may be clean too. ²⁷ "A curse on you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, for you are like white-washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead people's bones and everything that is unclean! ²⁸ So you, too, on the outside seem to people to be upright, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. ²⁹ "A curse on you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, for you build tombs for the prophets, and decorate monuments for the upright, ³⁰ and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have been sharers with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' ³¹ So you are witnessing against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Then fill up to the brim the cup of your forefathers' guilt! ³³ You serpents! You brood of vipers! How can you escape a sentence to the pit! ³⁴ Therefore, I am going to send you prophets, wise men, and scribes, some of whom you will kill -- even crucify -- and some you will flog in your synagogues and chase from city to city, ³⁵ so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of upright Abel to the blood of Zechariah, Barachiah's son, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. ³⁶ I solemnly say to you, all this will come upon this age! ³⁷ "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The city that has kept on murdering the prophets, and stoning those who have been sent to her, how often I have yearned to gather your children around me, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you refused! ³⁸ Now your house is abandoned by me! ³⁹ For I tell you, you will never see me again until you say, 'Blessed be He who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

¹ "Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ² Now five of them were thoughtless and five were thoughtful, ³ for the thoughtless ones took their lamps but took no oil with them. ⁴ But the thoughtful ones not only took their lamps but also extra oil in their oil cans. ⁵ While the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and dropped off to sleep. ⁶ But at midnight there was a shout, 'Here comes the bridegroom! Go out to meet him!' ⁷ Then all those bridesmaids awoke and trimmed their lamp-wicks. ⁸ And the thoughtless ones said to the thoughtful ones, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' ⁹ But the thoughtful ones answered, 'No, no, there may not be enough for you and us. Go to the store and buy your own oil.' ¹⁰ And while they were going to buy it, the bridegroom came, and the bridesmaids that were ready went in with him to the wedding reception; and the door was closed. ¹¹ At last the rest of the bridesmaids came, and kept begging, 'Master, master, open the door for us!' ¹² But he answered, 'I positively say to you, I do not know you.' ¹³ So you must keep on watching, for you do not know either the day or the hour. ¹⁴ "For it is just like a man who was going on a long journey from his homeland, who called to him his slaves and turned his property over to them. ¹⁵ He gave one five thousand dollars, another two thousand, another one thousand, to each in accordance with his ability. Then he started on his long journey. ¹⁶ The man who had received the five thousand dollars at once went out and invested it, and made five thousand more. ¹⁷ In the same way the man who had received the two thousand made two thousand more. ¹⁸ But the man who had received the one thousand went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master's money. ¹⁹ After a long time the master of those slaves came back and settled accounts with them. ²⁰ The man who had received the five thousand dollars came up and brought him five thousand more, saying, 'You turned over to me five thousand dollars; here are five thousand more I made.' ²¹ His master said to him 'Well done, my good and faithful slave, you have been faithful in the use of a small amount; I will put you in charge of a larger one. Come, share your master's joy!' ²² Then the man who had received the two thousand came up and said, 'Master, you turned over to me two thousand dollars; here are two thousand more I made.' ²³ His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful slave, you have been faithful in the use of a small amount; I will put you in charge of a larger one. Come, share your master's joy!' ²⁴ Then the man who had received the one thousand came up and said, 'Master, I knew you were a hard man, who reaped where you had not sown, who gathered where you had not threshed. ²⁵ So I was afraid, and went off and buried your thousand dollars in the ground. Here is your money.' ²⁶ His master answered him, 'You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reaped where I had not sown and gathered where I had not threshed. ²⁷ So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, so that when I came back I could have collected my principal with interest. ²⁸ So take the thousand dollars away from him and give it to him who has ten thousand. ²⁹ For the man who has will have more given to him, even till it overflows, but from the man who has nothing even what he has will be taken away. ³⁰ And throw the good-for-nothing slave out into the darkness on the outside, where he will weep and grind his teeth.' ³¹ "When the Son of Man comes in His splendor, and all the angels with Him, He will take His seat on His splendid throne, ³² and all the nations will be gathered before him, and He will separate them from one another, just as a shepherd separates his sheep from his goats, ³³ and He will put the sheep at His right hand and the goats at his left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those at His right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. ³⁵ For when I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, when I was thirsty you gave me something to drink, when I was a stranger you welcomed me to your homes, ³⁶ when I needed clothes you put them on me, when I was sick you looked after me, when I was in prison you came to see me.' ³⁷ Then the upright will answer, 'Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and give you something to eat, or thirsty, and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we ever see you a stranger and welcome you to our homes, or needing clothes, and put them on you? ³⁹ When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and come to see you?' ⁴⁰ And the King will answer them, 'I solemnly say to you, every time you did a good deed to one of these most insignificant brothers of mine, you did a good deed to me.' ⁴¹ "Then He will say to those at His left, 'Be gone from me, you who are now cursed, to the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For when I was hungry you gave me nothing to eat, when I was thirsty you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ when I was a stranger you did not welcome me to your homes, when I needed clothes you did not put them on me, when I was sick and in prison, you did not look after me.' ⁴⁴ Then they will answer, 'Lord, when did we ever see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or needing clothes, or sick, or in prison, and did not wait on you?' ⁴⁵ Then He will answer, 'I solemnly say to you, every time you failed to do a good deed to one of these most insignificant people, you failed to do a good deed to me.' ⁴⁶ Then these will go away to everlasting punishment, but the upright to everlasting life."

¹⁹ Stop taking revenge on one another, beloved, but leave a place for God's anger, for the Scripture says, "Vengeance belongs to me; I will pay them back, says the Lord."

¹⁶ So we know by experience and trust the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever continues to love continues in union with God and God in union with him.

¹ "For the kingdom of heaven is like an owner of an estate who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ² When he had contracted with the laborers at twenty cents a day, he sent them off to his vineyard. ³ He went out again about nine o'clock and found others standing around doing nothing. ⁴ So he said to them, 'You too go out to my vineyard, and I will pay you what is right.' And they went. ⁵ Again he went out about twelve o'clock and three o'clock, and did as before. ⁶ About five he went out again and found still others standing around, and he said to them, 'Why have you been standing here all day doing nothing?' ⁷ They answered him, 'Because nobody has hired us.' He said to them, 'You too go out to my vineyard.' ⁸ "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last and ending with the first.' ⁹ And they who had been hired at five o'clock came and received twenty cents each. ¹⁰ And those who were hired first, when they came, supposed that they would receive more, but they too received twenty cents each. ¹¹ And as they received it, they began to grumble against the owner of the estate, ¹² and say, 'These last worked only one hour, and yet you have put them on the same footing with us who have borne the heavy burdens and scorching heat of the day.' ¹³ But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no injustice. Did you not contract with me at twenty cents? ¹⁴ Take what belongs to you and go. I want to give this man hired last as much as I do you. ¹⁵ Have I not the right to do what I please with my own money? Or, is your eye causing you to be covetous, because I am generous? ¹⁶ So those who are last now will be first then, and those first will be last."

¹⁸ "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has consecrated me to preach the good news to the poor; He has sent me to announce release to captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to send the downtrodden away in liberty and

⁸ Whoever fails to provide for his own relatives, and especially for those of his immediate family, has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

¹ So I, a prisoner for the Lord's sake, entreat you to live lives worthy of the call you have received, ² with perfect humility and gentleness, with patience, lovingly bearing with one another, ³ continuing with eager earnestness to maintain the unity of the Spirit through the tie of peace. ⁴ There is but one body and one Spirit, just as there is but one hope resulting from the call you have received; ⁵ there is but one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over us all, who pervades us all, and who is within us all. ⁷ But in accordance with the measure of Christ's gift, His favor has been bestowed upon each one of us. ⁸ Concerning this the Scripture says: "He led a host of captives, when He went up on high, and granted gifts to men." ⁹ What does "He went up" mean, except that He had first gone down into the lower regions of the earth? ¹⁰ The very One that went down has gone up, too, far above all the heavens, to fill the universe. ¹¹ And He has given some men to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers, ¹² for the immediate equipment of God's people for the work of service, for the ultimate building up of the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all attain to unity in faith and to perfect knowledge of the Son of God, namely, to a mature manhood and to a perfect measure of Christ's moral stature; ¹⁴ so that we may not be babies any longer, or like sailors tossed about and driven around by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men through their cunning in inventing new methods of error. ¹⁵ But, on the other hand, we shall go on holding to the truth and in love growing up into perfect union with Him, that is, Christ Himself who is the Head. ¹⁶ For it is under His direction that the whole body is perfectly adjusted and united by every joint that furnishes its supplies; and by the proper functioning of each particular part there is brought about the growing of the body for its building up in love. ¹⁷ So I mean this and now testify to it in the name of the Lord: You must now stop living as the heathen usually do, in the frivolity of their minds, ¹⁸ with darkened understanding, estranged from the life of God because of the ignorance that exists among them and because of the stubbornness of their hearts; ¹⁹ for in their recklessness they have abandoned themselves to sensuality which leads to excessive practices of all sorts of immorality. ²⁰ But this is not the way you have learned what Christ means, ²¹ if, as I take it, you have heard Him and in union with Him have been taught the truth as it is seen in Jesus, ²² to lay aside, with your former way of living, your old self which is on the way to destruction in accordance with its deceptive impulses; ²³ and to have a new attitude of mind ²⁴ and put on the new self which has been created in the likeness of God, which fruits in right and holy living inspired by the truth. ²⁵ So you must lay aside falsehood and each of you practice telling the truth to his neighbor, for we are parts of one another. ²⁶ If you do get angry, you must stop sinning in your anger. Do not ever let the sun go down on your anger; ²⁷ stop giving the devil a chance. ²⁸ The man who used to steal must now stop stealing; rather, he must keep on working and toiling with his own hands at some honest vocation, so as to have something to contribute to the needy. ²⁹ You must stop letting any bad word pass your lips, but only words that are good for building up as the occasion demands, so that they will result in spiritual blessing to the hearers. ³⁰ You must stop offending the Holy Spirit of God by whom you have been stamped for the day of redemption. ³¹ You must remove all bitterness, rage, anger, loud threats, and insults, with all malice. ³² You must practice being kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has graciously forgiven you.

¹² Now on the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ we charge and exhort such persons to do their own work with quiet and eat their own bread.

⁶ But He gives a greater spiritual blessing. He says, "God opposes haughty people but blesses humble people."

¹⁰ For when I was with you, I gave you this direction, "If a person refuses to work, he must not be allowed to eat."

¹ What causes wars and quarrels among you? Is it not your different desires which are ever at war within your bodies? You desire things and cannot have them, and so you commit murder. ² You covet things, but cannot acquire them, and so you quarrel and fight. You do not have them, because you do not ask for them. ³ You ask and fail to get them, because you ask with evil, selfish motives, to spend them on your pleasures. ⁴ You faithless wives! Do you not know that the friendship of the world means enmity with God? So whoever wants to be a friend to the world puts himself down as an enemy to God. ⁵ Or, do you think that the Scripture means nothing when it says, "He jealously yearns for the Spirit that He causes to dwell in your hearts"? ⁶ But He gives a greater spiritual blessing. He says, "God opposes haughty people but blesses humble people." ⁷ So then, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will fly from you. ⁸ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Get your hands clean, you sinners. Get your hearts purified, you double-minded. ⁹ Be miserable, mourn ... and weep aloud. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you high. ¹¹ Stop talking against one another, brothers. Whoever is in the habit of talking against a brother or of criticizing his brother is criticizing and condemning the law. But if you are in the habit of criticizing the law, you are not a practicer but a critic of the law. ¹² There is but one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who has the power to save and to destroy; then who are you that you presume to judge your brother?